I am Having trouble tracking down the earlier fairbairns. I have Robert Fairburn m Elizabeth Young 1847 Blantyre Lanark.
Son George b Liverpool 1854 married Laura Kemp London 1874. They had about eleven children one of whom was Frank Percival Fairbairn, my maternal grandfather.
I would like advice finding ancestors of Robert and I believe that brothers and sisters of George went to Canada, Australia, America and New Zealand and got lost there! Laura Kemp, it is said in the family, ended her days with one of her offspring in Canada. My mother was Helen but known as Cissy after an aunt in Canada. William Ewert another of Georges brothers was a policeman in Hong Kong and had something to do with Knives and fighting.
ANY family history would be appreciated. Roger

Hi,
I dont know if this is of any help. I am looking into my family history I am looking for any information on my Grandpa William Edwin Fairbairn Date of birth16 Jun 1912. From his war records he put Laura Fairbairn down as his next of kin. Grandpa’s place of birth was NEWTOWNBUTLER FERMANAGH North Ireland. He had 1 brother and a sister and immigrated to Australia. Sorry I don’t know the date. I am a Fairbairn and the name comes from Ireland. Hope this is of some help.

Hi, I have found an article of Capt. W.E. Fairairn. The article tells about him as an Assistant Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police beween 1927 and 1940. He taught hand-to-hand combat to the U.S. Marines during this period and to the British Commandos during WW2. If you use internet and look up Capt W.E. Fairbairn you will find that he also wrote a wook about combat and developing a "Fairairn" knife. The article was sumbitted by e-mail: david.cjolby@lhsc.on.ca Good luck.